SE-FrugalAirlock (a.k.a. TNG's Frugal Airlock)
TNG's Frugal Airlock is a C# script meant for a Programmable Block in the game Space Engineers by Keen Software House. It enables the setup of airlocks: enclosed, airtight spaces that allow engineers to easily pass between low-oxygen zones (i.e., "vacuum") and breathable zones (i.e., "habitat").
Compared to other airlock strategies, TNG's Frugal Airlock places priority on a few key principles, in this order:
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No oxygen is ever wasted. When properly set up, an airlock will never vent any O2 into the vacuum, nor will it use up more O2 from a main supply than necessary.
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The form factor, ergonomics, and user interface of your airlock are up to you. The script requires a few obligatory elements to be in place (obvious things like Air Vents and an airtight structure and less obvious things like drainage tanks), but beyond those it doesn't care about size, shape, or style.
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The player should not have to touch the script. Configuring the script to work with your design is done by adding INI-style text to the CustomData of your various airlock-related blocks, from a well-commented template. Blocks that trigger airlock operation are easy to set up with well-documented commands. There is no need to edit the script with a list of block or group names, nor is any naming convention imposed.
Complete details are in the wiki.
Most end users will just want to go straight to the
Releases and
download the latest ZIP, but not the one marked as "Source Code". The release
ZIP contains a "pre-cooked", ready-to-eat script.cs file, and a Template.ini
file that provides a guide to configuring your airlocks. To use, just paste
script.cs into a Programmable Block. Template.ini will explain its own use,
basically, but you'll want to read the the
wiki for a complete
understanding.
TO DO: This should eventually be available on the Steam Workshop for even easier use. It's not mature enough for that yet.
If you're more interested in the source code and guts, you'll need not only Microsoft Visual Studio (this solution was created in 2019 Community Edition), but also the MDK-SE extension for Visual Studio by malware-dev. MDK-SE does the "cooking" of an organized codebase into a single Space Engineers script, along with lots of other conveniences. It's absolutely indispensible for anyone serious about Space Engineers scripting.